"The KHRC has filed a lawsuit against several government figures and entities over their negligence during the recent floods that have destroyed homes, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and tragically claimed hundreds of lives across the country,” the non-governmental organisation (NGO) said in a statement, adding that it filed the case on Thursday.

Those listed in the suit include Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki, Environment Minister Soipan Tuya, Lands Minister Alice Wahome and Attorney General Justine Muturi, as well as the Water Resources Authority, the National Environment Management Authority, the Council of Governors and the National Disaster Management Authority, among others.

According to the organisation, Kenyan authorities failed to put in place a national response plan in good time for the heavy rains that have been pounding the country since mid-March and “the negligence persisted despite an early warning issued by the Kenya Meteorological Department on 30th July 2023”.

The KHRC noted that the El Niño weather phenomenon was expected to intensify the rainy season, just months after Kenyan President William Ruto said in October that the country would not experience El Niño rains but only “normal rains that will not be destructive”.

The KHRC said that by its actions, “the government has violated the constitutional rights of citizens by failing to protect them from the devastating floods”.

In its petition, the NGO wants the court to award “compensation” to the victims and compel the government to provide “humanitarian assistance including alternative shelter, food and social services to the flood-affected persons”, who now number more than 400,000 countrywide, according to the latest official figures.

The KHRC was among civil society organisations that criticised the Kenyan government in a separate statement in early May over forced evictions and demolitions of houses near river banks, which they said “specifically targeted the urban poor in informal settlements” and spared affluent estates that are also located on riparian land.

On Thursday, about a hundred people held a peaceful demonstration in the capital, Nairobi, against the demolitions, which have left thousands of Kenyans homeless.

Some 285,600 people have been displaced from their homes by the rains, 188 have been injured and 75 are still missing.

“The government is providing logistical support, temporary shelter and essential relief supplies to the affected persons and families,” said Isaac Mwaura, a spokesman for the Kenyan government, which has set up 187 camps to accommodate the displaced.

The heavy rains, which fall in the March-May rainy season in East Africa, have been worsened by the El Niño weather phenomenon, a climate pattern that involves unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

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